With the sunshine pouring down and the heat up in the 90's, an evening of perfect speedway racing was ready for action.
A huge crowd was privy to a superb night of racing to round of a magnificent Sunday at the Paris Fair! The evening began with a huge bang, all the riders mounted their bikes and did one continuous lap of honor before parking their bikes along the main straight. The sight was amazing to see, something that has never been seen before at Paris!
After the rider introductions and national anthems, the event went straight into action. The first heat of the night started with a bang literally! Mark Engel took a nasty looking fall after clipping the rear wheel of the returning Corinne Franic. He sadly withdrew from the event with a shoulder injury. Corinne Franic aboard Tim Murray's bike did a great smooth job to beat out Todd Vallee and Trevor Farrington. The second heat saw the mechanical woes continue for Terry Rideout, his loaner bike died on him, as he was leading the heat well. With many US riders in attendance, Cam Rafferty, Mark Engel, Katalin Davis, Mike Buman, Craig Estelle, Cole Forewell and Bob Mosquera.
The action they provided was superb. Always coming to Canada providing a great show, we thank them for continuing this tradition! Cam Rafferty was involved in a spectacular crash coming into turn 3 with Fred Legault and Joe Heye. The three of them were all battling for place coming out of turn 2 hard, when Cam lifted violently as he got too much traction which caused all three riders to crash hard into the corner. With the go-ahead from the St.John's crew, the race restarted, but Cam's woes continued as his chain came off on the last lap. Also sadly for Cam, upon his father's advice, he withdrew from the meeting with a slight concussion.
One heat that proved to be a crowd favorite was between Craig Estelle and Jeff Orosz, they both battled hard all race with Jeff just grabbing the win! Tom Marriott was present this day, he had a scary moment as Trevor Farrington hooked up and fell in front of him, Tom being the pro that he is, quickly performed a lay-down that saved all from injury. Great Job Tom! With many mechanical problems for Corinne Franic and Terry Rideout, it was great to see the other riders come together and lend bikes without a blink of an eye! Marc Gauthier, Bob Mosquera and Tim Murray all lent their machines to Corinne and Terry throughout the night, to keep them on their winning ways- super job guys!!! Our infamous 'Junior Speedway Guys' were also on hand to give a great show - these guys have really come into their own as an integral part of the Paris Show!!
Matt Sehl and Bradon Vallee continued with their weekly battles, pushing each other very hard as they kept a dodging Dalton Gauthier behind them! Mike Fisher and Tyler Thompson on their 50cc machines also did a fab job of giving the crowd something to cheer about. Congratulations to both Matt and Tyler for winning their respective finals!!! The Division 2/3 blend Final was all Terry Rideout, he took control of the race from the start, and even did the same after the restart following a 4th corner crash by our #911 rider, Scott Collier. Great job Terry!
The Consi-Final for Division 1 was a cracker, Craig Estelle and Fred Legault put on the best race of the night! Fred was all over Craig and was basically in his shadow the whole race, the best we have seen Freddie all season at Paris! Craig did a wonderful job of holding him back to grab the checkered flag! Great Job Craig! It was really nice to see Craig and Fred shaking each others hands at the end of the race both on the track and in the pits afterwards!
The Division 1 Final was the longest Final, we have seen! with 5 restarts, it was a tiring one for all the riders! Joe Heye, Aaron Hesmer, Jeff Orosz and Mike Buman all took to the starting line 5 times following a list of disasters.
The first attempt saw Joe Heye crash hard into the fence on the first corner, the second attempt saw Mike Buman lose control on bend 1 also and crash, the third attempt saw Jeff Orosz clash with Aaron Hesmer and do a 360 degree spin also on turn 1 and the fourth attempt saw both Jeff Orosz and Mike Buman spill again on turn 1. The last attempt saw Joe Heye chomping at Aaron Hesmer, but with no success and Aaron once again showed why he holds the #1 plate for 2007 - smooth, controlled and fast. Congratulations to Aaron Hesmer for completing the night's events in winning style and to all the riders listed below for their contribution to another successful and thrilling Paris Fair weekend!
Aaron Hesmer, Aaron DeVeau, Joe Heye, Fred Legault, Mike Buman, Cam Rafferty, Katalin Davis, Corinne Franic, Terry Rideout, Jeff Orosz, Tim Murray, Cole Forewell, Marc Engel, Bob Mosquera, Todd Vallee, Trevor Farrington, Marc Gauthier, Tom Marriott, Craig Estelle, Scott Collier, Braden Vallee, Matt Sehl, Tyler Thompson, Mike Fisher, Dalton Gauthier.
This coming Friday night is the last event on the Canadian Speedway calender. The CKPC Paris Speedway event will hold two events that will be significant to our season success. Firstly, the night is dedicated to those people who have touched Canadian Speedway in their lives and are no longer here to enjoy this great sport - Our Memorial night will be joined together with the Divison 2 and Divison 3 Championship race. A huge night to end our great season and we look forward to going out in style.
